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Need Help Writing? Helpful Hints for Writing a Bare Submission

Need Help Writing?

Helpful Hints for Writing a Bare Submission

PROMPTS – (these are not by any means guidelines, just ideas if you need some inspiration or are feeling stuck, if they lead to something drastically different, submit that too!)

Write about any sexual feeling you have had – lust, desire, etc… and where in your body you feel like it stems from – avoid clichés – when you feel pleasure of course it radiates from your pelvis, but do you feel an uplifting in your sternum? Does the top of your head tingle?

Your gender stories: Tell us how you identify and what gender means to you through art, photos, essays, etc.

Tell us a story about body image/ self-esteem/ self-love.

What is something you have felt ashamed of? Why do you think you felt that shame? Recall and write down the first time you felt it, try and trace down its origins in writing – what made you feel like you were doing something wrong or something that had to be kept secret? If you maintain this shame write how it effects your life now, and if not write about the moment you overcame it and the realization. Be reflective! This can be therapeutic! This is a chance to make other people feel more comfortable in their own skins, and to make other’s realize they are not alone!

Write about a fantasy versus your reality

Are you angry about something? Do you want the world to know about a political topic/campaign/policy? Write it down and tell us about it!

Have you ever felt angered by someone’s reaction to your sexuality? VENT! Write down your reasoning! This is your chance to make them aware, and help them understand!

Have you ever felt confined by your sexuality? Why? How? Imagine the moment that you break free and what it would be like?

Write specifically about the sexual environment of Skidmore, what it is like to be sexually active at Skidmore? to be of a “divergent” sexuality? to feel as though you do not fit within the institution’s sexual guidelines? Write editorially, satirically, confessionally, personally, comically.

What’s the best sexual experience you ever had? What’s the worst? Develop the context of the situation – characters, emotional background, setting – draw people into the story

HOW TO WRITE (once again, just suggestions)

Get graphic, if you want, or don’t – be subtle – both can be interesting, just go for it.

Make lists

Write short sentences or very long, allow your sentences to communicate how you’re feeling in the moment you’re writing about.

Write in diary entries

Write a letter to someone else

Make metaphors – writing about sex or sexuality does not have to be described in literal sexual terms – does sex make you think of something else? Use that action or moment to describe sex or your sexuality Ex: a tennis match, a flower blooming (very cliché example)

Write instructions for someone else on how to do something sexual, or how live a certain lifestyle that you have experience with – Ex: ‘How to be a Lesbian at Skidmore, How to have a threesome with your two best friends’

Don’t be afraid to be funny, sex is funny, people respond well to funny

Don’t be afraid of poetry – it doesn’t have to rhyme or be cliché – play with word choice, punctuation, alignment, and spacing. Make sure the words you use count because you will use less of them than you do in prose.

BE HONEST, especially if you’re submitting anonymously – what do you have to lose?